Split, Croatia

The first stop on our cruise was Split, Croatia. As we approached the harbor, this is what we saw. A picture is worth a thousand words, but I don't think even this picture does the scene justice. The skies were threatening rain, but we didn't get any. The temps were in the low 60's, perfect for touring.

We spent the afternoon touring the cities of Split and Trogir. Both are beautiful old cities. We had a local guide to show us around. This first photo shows the Riva, the main thoroughfare along the waterfront. The buildings were connected to the Diocletian Palace, which was built in the 3rd century by a Roman emporer. We toured the palace, where today 2,000 people make their homes inside its walls.

Here we are standing outside the palace walls. The palace is in the process of being restored. When the Croatian people took over the palace following the death of the emporer, they wanted to get rid of everything that reminded them of him, because he had persecuted all of the locals who were Christians. He thought he was God, and wanted to be treated as such.

The next photo shows Bill rubbing the big toe of a huge statue behind the palace. Legend has it that if you rub the toe, you will come back to Split. OF course, we hope the legend turns out to be true! (The statue is huge, as you can tell from the size of just the toe, and is of the guy who united all the tribes in Croatia after the death of the emporer. We can't remember his name!!!)

We had a little free time in our tour so Cindy and Iwalked through the local market. They were selling everything from shoes, belts, hats, fruits,veggies and assorted nuts. The photo below shows some of the assorted nuts that were for sale. The nut in the front kept following me around all day! We did buy some fresh figs and munched on them the rest of the afternoon. We ended up with a half kilo of figs. We had so many I passed them out on the tour bus on our way back to the ship.

About a 30 minute bus ride away from Split is the town of Trogir. There we toured a cathedral and the town square. Trogir was named by the Greeks from 2 words meaning 'goat' and 'hill'. I paid special attention to that bit of trivia due to the Greek reference. It was beautiful, as you can see below.

On board and ready to set sail

We are all settled into our new digs for the next 21 days. The room comes with a great view that changes by the minute. We will be leaving port in a little over an hour. Just survived our life vest drill so I feel much safer. After our visit to Split we will update the blog.
Ciao for now!

Arrivederci Jesolo Lido

Cindy and I are all packed up and ready to leave Jesolo Lido for the ship in Venice. When we first made these reservations we were a little unsure of the location. We didn't know how hard it would be to get into Venice each day and how bad the traffic would be but it worked out great. A short drive to the ferry and a short ferry ride into Venice or the other islands we wanted to go to. If we were here in the summer it may have been a different story. Since this is a beach resort and is loaded with hotels, bars and restaurants I imagine that during the season this place is really hopping with lots of people coming and going. As for now most of the hotels and resaurants are closed and it is very quiet. This hotel closes the end of this week for the season. We have included a photo of the hotel. It looks like the typical small town european hotel. They only heat the first floor of the hotel and what ever seeps up to your floor that is the heat you get. Fortunately each room has its own heater if that is what you want to call it. It makes a lot of noise and blows out warm air but you never get hot. One really great feature for this hotel is the free wireless internet they have in the lobby for their guests to use. You can tell we have gotten our fair share of free internet time. We have no regrets over our decison to stay here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This will be a Thanksgiving day to remember! Of course we miss being with our family, but you are all in our thoughts. We are so very thankful for our family, our friends, and our good health.

Our Thanksgiving meal had no turkey in it. We ate at a small trattoria that was recommended in the Rick Steves tour book. What a great place it was! First good sign, it was really crowded. Second, friendly staff. We weren't disappointed with the food, either. We started with a large bowl of clams (or, as the English version of the menu said "clamps") and the house wine. We each followed the clams with a pasta dish and then, something we saw other people getting, which we can't remember the name of. (Sarah, can you help here?) It was served in a chanpagne glass and was a combination of lemon ice cream, vodka, and sparkling wine. We really like it and are going to try to recreate this at home. We asked a guy at the next table to take our picture. He and his friend were originally from New York but now live in London. The told us we picked the best place on the island of Murano to eat. Those 2 guys have been eating there for over 15 years, and with all the choices of places to eat, that's a good endorsement.

Now let me back up and tell you how our day began. We decided to visit two of the islands that are in the Venice lagoon, Burano and Murano. We caught the water bus to Burano on another picture-perfect day. We were in awe of the brightly painted buildings as our boat pulled up to the vaporetto stop. We wandered around enjoying the sights and watching residents go about their business. Burano is known for lace making, so we visited the Lace Museum (Bill was not too thrilled about that, but he was a good sport.) One of the women showed me the intricate process involved in making lace and I was really impressed because of the needlework that I've done. Bill was pacing outside during this demonstration. After I got the full explanation, I made a graceful exit and joined Bill to continue our tour of the island. One of the interesting sights is a leaning clock tower which leans at the same angle (5 degrees) as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We took pictures of it, but they don't do it justice. The whole island is like a picture post card. There was just one beautiful photo op after another.

Oh my God I couldn't believe it when Cindy said we had to leave Burano the cradle of the lace world. I was just getting started picking out patterns for my new lace tennis ball covers! I was thinking of getting Taki and Vernie matching lace shirts for Christmas but I couldn't find any orange lace. Well maybe I will have better luck on my next visit to lace world! Onward to Murano the island named after our car. As you know (if you don't you should) Murano is known for their glass production. They started making glass on Murano because of the danger to the wooden structures on the island of Venice. I guess the furnaces that put out over 1400 degrees may play havoc with a city with a lot of wooden buildings. We toured the history of glass museum and were amazed with all the glass bottles, bowls, vases, etc they had on display from the first century AD. I think I saw a sticker on one of the bottles that said made in China. It was in Italian so I'm not really sure. We went into a glass factory and viewed the things they had for sale. I went up to the second floor and the sales person followed me up and said that the things on this floor were not souvenirs but for collectors. I wonder how he knew I wasn't a collector! We did make a few purchases and the item I bought Cindy is in the photo below. I wanted to get something unique and something that would remind us of this trip to Murano. Now she is saying she can't fit it in her carryon. just when I thought I had the perfect gift for her.

We hopped a Vaporetto for Venice and were hoping to end up near St Mark's so we could catch the Ferry back to our hotel. Well we ended up at the far end of Venice by the bus station. The opposite end of where we wanted to be. So instead of taking another boat we took one last walk through Venice streets and we were glad that we did.

A picture perfect day in Verona

Well Cindy and I decided to test our Amazing Race ability and venture off to Verona in our rental car. We weren't given any clues to find, no money to start with, nor was Phill there to greet us when we made it! We hopped in our super car and took off for the great beyond. We had fantastic directions from our hotel manager. He said just follow the signs to Milano and we will find Verona. Well we did just that and sure enough we found Verona but we didn't find any Starbucks selling any Verona coffee (go figure). We used the Rick Steves travel book that we bought and followed his self-guided walk and it was fantastic. Here is a photo of the Roman Arena that was built in the first century AD.

The Arena was used for Roman gladiator battles and medieval executions (none scheduled for today) and is now used in July and August for the annual opera festival.

While searching the city for wonderful sights I found my perfect Juliet on the balcony of her parents house. I took a photo of her and will carry it with me often.

Okay, this is Cindy now. How can I top Bill's comments??!! As Bill said, today's visit to Verona was FANTASTIC! We enjoyed our walk around this city, a quieter place than Venice, but similar in the number of churches and plazas (or, as they say here, piazzas.) We strolled through several. One, right next to the Arena, had a statue of Italy's first king, Victor Emmanuel, on horseback.

One of the stops on the walking tour was a bridge that was originally built by the Romans but had been destroyed during World War II. The people of Verona picked up the marble remains from the river bed and rebuilt the bridge. We had a beautiful view of this hillside, which is such a typical sight around here.

One of the things that struck me on the drive between Venice and Verona was the way the restaurants are built spanning the roadway. We were on the Autostrada, which is a tollroad.

I have to add one thing about our day out. Cindy and I found a really nice sidewalk cafe to have lunch on the Piazza Erbe. I have bad news about lunch -- I had only one glass, yes one glass of wine. I do have good news. We stopped at a little Gelateria and yes you guessed it, they sell all flavors of Gelato and even better news, they have these things all over the city. I got to move here!

Venice, the Final Tour

Back into Venice we went today, the last day on our water bus pass. We certainly got our money's worth on that ticket! The day started out with Bill waking me up by saying, "Holy cow (although he used another word), Cindy, it's almost 9 o'clock!" We couldn't believe we had slept that late. He was concerned because we had tickets for a tour of the Clock Tower in St. Mark's Square, and we had to pick up the tickets by 10:45. No time for breakfast before we left the hotel, but we made it to the ferry in time for the 9:35 departure and had a chance to grab capaccinos and pastry in Venice before our tour began. We were really happy with the tour; it was just the 2 of us plus the guide, a young girl who speaks Italian, Polish, Russian, French and English. She took us into a 'secret' door in an underpass right off the Square. Here are Bill and our guide at the entrance.

We went up a total of 132 steps, stopping at every level for an explanation of the history and working of the clock tower which was built in 1499. Much of it is original -- hard to believe it is in such good condition. The inner workings of the clock itself date from the 1700's. Here is a photo of the guide and me standing in front of the wheel that is part of the first ever digital clock!

Right after we finished up our tour on the top level, it started to rain, and our guide told us that the tower guard would be closing the upper 2 levels due to the rain. (Those are the only 2 levels that take you outside.) We were so thankful that we got to see the wonderful view and the 2 bronze bellringer statues with the bell (all from 1499) before the rain started. We asked the guide to take our picture with St Mark's Basilica in the background.
Cindy and I took the Vaparetto to San Giorgio the church that looks like it is floating on the water.

We went to the top of the bell tower and took panoramic photos. The one below shows a bell tower from one of the bizillion churches in Venice with the snow covered Dolomites in the background.

Oh by the way we found a Trattoria (small restaurant) we stopped in for lunch and yes a liter of red wine. I love these leisurely two hour lunches. You are nice and relaxed and all ready to go out and hit the trail touring the rest of the day and into the night. The last thing we did this evening before heading back to the hotel was to take the Vaparetto to the train station. From the train station we walked to the Jewish Ghetto. We went to the Piazza (plaza) where the Nazis rounded up over 200 Jews and shipped them off to the concentration camps in Germany. After the war only eight of them returned alive.

Happy 1st Birthday, Kira!

Happy birthday to Kira! We're sorry we can celebrate with you, but we're thinking of you all the way from Italy. We love you very much!

Oh, What a Difference a Day Makes!!!

Please take note of the two photos below.

This was taken yesterday at St Mark's Square. You can see that it was a great day, lots of people, blue sky, and all together a nice day to be outside.

Now comes today's photo at St Mark's Square. You will notice that the platforms that Cindy talked about yesterday are now in use today.

We left our hotel in a rain/snow storm. Here's a photo of me in our Ferrari (ha! ha!) leaving our hotel car park with the snow coming down (the snow is the white blobs in the photo).

We boarded the ferry and the wind was blowing hard and the rain and snow was really coming down. It made for very poor visibility while we traveled into Venice. Just think 24 short hours and this is what happened. (Yes Melanie it is as cold and colder than we thought it would be. On the way to the ferry, we saw a thermometer showing 1 degree (34 farenheit). On the way back to the hotel tonight the same thermometer said 4 degrees (38.) Although the weather was bad that didn't slow us down we got in a tour of St Mark's Basilica, a museum tour and a great walking tour from St Mark's Square to the Rialto bridge and beyond. We jumped on the Vaparetto for the return trip to the Square so we could catch the ferry back. So far no wine by the liter today but the day isn't over yet!

As Bill said, we did a lot of our sightseeing inside while it was raining. At one of the museums in the Basilica, you can step outside onto a balcony overlooking the Square. We were happy to see the rain had stopped. This photo shows us on the balcony with the Grand Canal in the background.

During our walk to the Rialto Bridge, we stopped at this building, which was built by the Nazis as their headquarters during World War II. It is now a 5 star hotel. It is one of the very few 'new' buildings in Venice.

Touring Venice Day 1

This morning we bought a 3-day boat ticket, which allows us to take the ferry to Venice and the outlying islands plus boats within the city of Venice. It's a short drive to Punta Sabbioni to catch the ferry for the 40 minute ride to Venice. Today we had beautiful weather, cool but sunny. The first photo shows the view as we neared Saint Mark's Square.

Following a suggestion from a Rick Steves travel book, we got off the ferry right at the Square and walked to the train station. What an adventure! There are no cars -- and no roads -- at all anywhere in Venice. There ARE tiny, narrow, winding alleys with names we can't pronounce, and tons of steps and bridges crossing over numerous canals. In the photo below you can see a Sunday traffic jam on one of the small canals.

Venice is unlike any city we've ever been to, and we love it! Walking to the train station was a real adventure and we stumbled upon statues, churches, shops, plazas, you name it. One thing we noticed were stacks of platforms in many areas. We couldn't figure out what they were at first, but then realized they are used when flooding occurs along the canals and in the plazas. People walk on the raised platforms to keep their feet dry! This is the time of year storms come up from the Adriatic Sea, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that the platforms won't be needed while we're here this week.

Once we got to the train station, we made our way back to San Marco Square using a vaparetto (small boat) on the Grand Canal. We followed along with the descriptions from the tour book and really enjoyed the sights along the way.

We stopped for a late lunch at a restaurant near St Mark's Square. What a country, they not only sell wine by the bottle but also by the liter. So not to upset our host country we ordered a liter of wine for lunch! The food was great the wine was fantastic and I'm ready to continue this fine tradition while we are visiting this country. I wonder if they have wine for breakfast. Oh no that's right, we have expresso for breakfast. One cup of that and you're wired for the rest of the day. As you can see by the photo below I have mastered this wine thing!

Off to Venice!

We left Antioch yesterday (Friday) morning when Melanie, Mason, & Kira drove us to BART. (Maile was in school.) Here's Bill on the platform, waiting for the train.


From San Francisco, we flew to Frankfort nonstop. It's usually an 11 hour flight, but we had good tailwinds and made it in about 10 hours. During our layover I couldn't resist getting a pretzel, after all this is the Pretzel Promiseland! Note the Sea Bands on my wrists in the photo. They came in handy during our 50 minute flight to Venice where we experienced turbulance as we passed over the Dolomites. They were snow-covered and beautiful from the air.



Now, Bill will continue . . .


As we landed in Venice I got a fantastic view of the city (Cindy was too busy turning green from the turbulance that we hit to give a S---- about what we could see!) We picked up our rental car which isn't much bigger than a three wheeled motorcycle and drove to our hotel in Jesolo Lido, which is about 30 minutes from the airport (with only two wrong turns). We walked along the beach at sunset and got a nice photo of the sun setting behind the light house.

On our way back from the lighthouse we stopped at a mom and pop grocery store. We wanted to get some snacks for the room. So since Pop was working we had him pick out the wine and cheese for us. We added some other things to drink and some crackers for the cheese. That was our dinner tonight and I must say Pop really knows his wine and cheese.